My 82 year old mum hasn't been too well recently and her local Nat West Branch has closed down and the new one is a nightmare for parking and she doesn't walk too well. She also got caught out by a phone holiday spoof to the tune of a few hundred quid and became paranoid about the company knowing her account details so we decided that maybe a change to a new bank was a good option. Barclays is my and my sisters bank as well and as difficult as it is to talk about if something happens to mum before it happens to me we theorised that if we are all at the same bank things would be easier to deal with, but it has all become a bit of a disaster!! We had a meeting with an advisor who looked into it and after doing her bit on computer stated that mum qualified for a basic account which would not include an overdraft or the option to loan. To be fair mum has plenty of money in her account and gets very good pension and investment returns so the need for an overdraft or loan is highly unlikely as her balance stays pretty much the same each month and it's far higher than my balance is!!! The one thing the advisor forgot to mention though was that mum wouldn't get a cheque book and I wouldn't have know that anyway being a Barclays Current Account holder since I was in my teens!! This was only brought to our attention over a week later when I rang Barclays to ask because mum mentioned she hadn't received one, which we obviously thought was the norm, but was told that she couldn't get a cheque book for a basic account. We then went back for a meeting because this was baffling. It then became clear that mum had been declined a current account (hence the basic) but the reason for why she has been declined is unclear and apparently the advisors do not get told the reason so obviously the customer cannot argue against it. The advisor to be fair did apologise profusely for not explaining clearly and for forgetting to mention the cheque book and said the reason could be something to do with a credit score. I've however checked mums credit score on Experian and it was 999. She has no debts, mortgage paid off years ago, no loans taken out for years if ever as far as I know, plenty of cash in the account and has never had an issue getting credit cards, of which she pays off in full...… Could this be the problem?! The annoyance is that mum relies on her cheque book and is in a muddle and is having to either get me to send cheques for her or she has to withdraw large amounts of cash. The bank suggested waiting a couple of months and when they have seen how the account is managed and that Barclaycards have been paid off etc then they can reapply for a current account. If it is still declined then the only option is to go back to Nat West who have already said she can have a current account with cheque book like she did before, but it will obviously be a pain switching once again and I suspect all of the Direct Debit companies will be baffled as to what is happening!! Barclays have also made a mess up with statements as well with mum not receiving one statement in the two months since the account opened so I am chasing up that as well mum called Barclays Head Office last week and the guy on the phone couldn't understand why she hadn't been given a cheque book so we will wait and see if he gets any joy, although I would say probably not!!! So any ideas as to why this happens? Especially as I as an 18 years old got a current account without an issue and with probably no job at the time albeit 35 odd years ago!! It seems bizarre especially as they hide the reason. I am wondering in part if it's because she is a retired widow so upon first check they may not have known what monthly income she would be receiving but they would have seen from the account surely? Help massively appreciated.

Hello, recently my NatWest bank account was unexpectedly closed due to an apparent commercial decision by the bank. So as I've only now got 1 bank account I apply to open a basic bank account with HSBC which was accepted. I received the pin and was waiting for the card to arrive and today I receive this letter. It states that following a review of my application, we regret to advise you thar we no longer wish to provide you with a bank account and that they are closing it. Closing a basic bank account seems extreme, feels like I've been blacklisted or something. It's signed by the fraud operations, financial crime risk operations team. This is really concerning as I know I haven't done anything wrong, but something strange is going on here. Makes me wonder if my main account where my income goes will end up being closed too? Will this kind of thing affect my disability benefits? I have enough to deal with given all my health problems let alone all of this.

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can please advise as to whether my logic is correct. Essentially I took out a Northern rock together mortgage over 10 years ago just before the recession, this included an unsecured loan of £30k. Shortly after I was out of work for a year and built up mortgage arrears on both the secured element and unsecured element of the loan. Despite 5 attempts of NRAM trying to repossess I managed to fight them off and eventually paid of the secured mortgage arrears however because I was prioritising the secured payments the unsecured loan arrears were not being paid and eventually NRAM applied for a CCJ. However at the time they did not default the unsecured loan account so it is still showing on my credit file with just many late payments. The CCJ dropped of my account about a year ago and during the 6 years prior NRAM didn't take and forceful action to recover the debt. My understanding is that prior to making an application for a CCJ to the courts they should have set my unsecured account to default and hence it should have also dropped of my account when the CCJ did and the unsecured debt should In theory now be written off. I did contact Experian and raised this issue, they replied stating that they contacted NRAM however NRAM stated they would not be making any amendments regarding this unsecured account on my credit file. I would really appreciate any advise on this matter and if my logic is incorrect. Many thanks in advance!!!

Hello all, I hope I've chosen the correct sub-forum for this post, but if not would you move it for me? I have encountered an interesting situation this past week and I wonder if I could have some advice on what, if anything, can be done about it. It's probably clearest if I just bullet point the facts: I have a computer graphics card for sale on Ebay Tuesday 12th June I received an email from a potential buyer by the name of Dorothy Baynham telling me they wanted to buy the card for their son's birthday and would I end the auction early and sell to them. Wednesday 13th June I agree to end the auction once a PayPal payment is received. Later on Wednesday PayPal payment for £360 is received along with the shipping name and address. Thursday 14th of June I sent the graphics card away by Royal Mail Special Delivery. Friday 15th of June it is received and signed for by a Mr *** Saturday 16th of June I received an email from a gentleman, completely unrelated to either earlier person, asking me why I have claimed £360 from his bank account. Saturday 16th of June I emailed back making clear that payment was sent from his account in payment for the item sold via Ebay. Friday 22nd of June I have received an email from PayPal telling me they are reversing the payment. Sure enough, my PayPal balance is now -£360. My belief is that the person I was corresponding with has used stolen/hacked credentials for a PayPal account to pay for the Ebay item. Subsequently, the person whose PayPal account was compromised has initiated a charge back. There is a lesson to be learned here, which is to never believe what anyone tells you on Ebay and to stick to their rules and let auctions run their course. I understand that, lesson learned, apparently the hard way. My question is, on the basis that I know the address the item was delivered to and I know who signed for it, is it possible for me to issue a Letter Before Action or similar with the aim of bringing them to account? I should make it clear, I am located in Scotland (west coast), the item was delivered to an address in Dudley. I may very well have to simply suck this up and chalk it up to "I should have known better", but I thought I'd check first. Ideally I'd rather not be out of pocket by £360!

Hi, About 13 years ago, we took out a Foundations Mortgage with Natwest (Thats an intrerest only cheque book type mortgage). 6 Years ago, when my business got into difficulties, I got behind on monthly interest payments, and (because my eye was not on that particular ball), went into default on the mortgage. Since then, our payment history has been eratic due to customers not paying us. Natwest has on two occassions applied to the courts for repossession, and on each occassion I have managed to clear the arrears completely before the hearing. upon which Natwest applied for and was granted a stay with 'indefinite leave to restore'. My questions for you caggers are: a) Six years on, the mortgage remains 'In Default', there is nothing in the mortgage agreement that covers coming 'Out of Default', if i'm making my regular payments now, will NatWest EVER be forced to accept the mortgage is nolonger in default? Is there law that covers this? b) 'Indefinate leave to restore' seems harsh (on the courts part) is there anything I can do about that? c) During the 6 years, though we have never been to court (2 stayed hearings), Natwest I estimate have tagged on about £4000 of legal fees without detail or justification. I've asked them to provide that detail verbally, they have failed to do so. I'm going to ask them in writing, and if they still fail, demand they remove them altogether (under banking code of conduct), does anyone have experience of fighting these kind of charges? Many thanks in advance for your help...

Hello all, My daughter has a joint account with her ex that she wishes to have her name removed from but the Bank/Halifax are making it difficult. Her ex left earlier this year and moved back to Scotland and left her with debts and a load of other problems which she has slowly managed to get sorted. She had to give up her courier job to look after the two children(6 and 4 yrs) and so has had to claim IS. However, due to this joint account the IS people are making it difficult to get the benefit and this has been ongoing since March. After many calls to the IS they said she would have to make a new claim which she has now done so has to get around the Joint account problem. Noe the bank says there are only two ways she can get her name off the account and these are, 1] she has to go to Scotland and sign a joint application paper to have her name removed as both parties have to go to the bank and sign the same time. She really really does not want to do that, 2] The other way is to actually get him to close the account and has he is out to cause as many problems for her as he can the chances here are probably a big fat zero. So, is there anyway that she can get this account closed/ name removed other than what the bank has said. She really wants it closed as to protect herself from any debts he may run up. The other question is now she's made this new IS claim will they take it from the date of the claim or will they back date it to the start of the original claim. Any help/advice is appreciated

Following on from this thread https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?487703-Changing-a-Power-of-Attorney&p=5139451&viewfull=1#post5139451 Helping Mum deal with husband's finances, she has POA. There was a standing order for £15 pm going to Capquest, no reference recorded and no correspondence received for at least 4 years. Capquest can't trace an account or any payments received (I gave the a/c no and sort code of the originating bank). There's no record of any account with Capquest on CRA files. Other than asking the originating bank how far back the SO goes and if there was ever any reference associated with it, any suggestions? If Capquest can't trace an account, I think they should be refunding.

Hello This morning I received a letter titled "Overdue Account" from Lowell chasing a JD williams debt. I am not sure of any dates or information regarding this account. I believe my next step is to SAR JD Williams to get all information. It is possible that this defaulted in October 2011. If someone could someone give me a nudge in the right direction that would be amazing. Thanks DC

Does anyone know of a website that I can use to refund my money from a dormant back account as I had an old TSB bank account now Lloyds which has a small amount of money which has since been closed (tried mylostaccount.org before). I've already been in my local Lloyds branch today and they advised to me to reclaim the money. Thanks

I booked a hotel last week on Hotels.com. I found it a lot cheaper on another website, filled out the online form for a price guarantee and Hotels.com responded and confirmed they would match it. I was told that I should pay the hotel directly and then within 72 hours after check out I would be refunded.. I did all of this, on day of check out I contacted them and they said to wait a little longer. They then said that they would not do the price match as they could not verify it, I said I am not accepting that etc. They said they would but they said that my details are not matching (email or telephone number that I booked with). I am 100% sure that I booked with the details I have given them, plus I have email confirmations of my reservation going directly to my email that I have given, along with my phone number. They have told me that they cannot do anything without the correct details. I have provided screenshots etc but they are not having it. I think that hotels.com have changed my details so that I can not benefit from the price guarantee. Any idea what I should do? It is quite a bit of money that I am due back! Thanks!

Hi all, I need to remortgage my house and don't have sufficient means. My son earns more than me and I tried with my sons help to remortgage only to be told my son has a bad credit score? we did a credit check and we found out hed closed a Natwest account in 2005 to open a new Natwest current account and according to the credit check there was still £400 owing on the closed account, there was fraudulent activity on the account, he went through the NatWest fraud team and they cant do anything as the account is more than 9yrs old. He complained and paid the amount owing june 2017 and Natwest said they would remove it from his file. We did another credit check and they've only marked it as satisfied April 2018, we spoke to Natwest who had the account arrears as written off! on their system and he could not have a mortgage or account with Natwest, the account was paid in full and hes had a Natwest account for 7rs?? is there anything else we can do please.

Hello All, I'm not sure where to ask this question so move it if it's in the wrong place. I have a defaulted account with Capital One (last payment 1/10/10) it has now been bough by Cabot and the have re defaulted it from 1/11/15. Is the correct and ok to do? I know Cabot are diddley so want to be sure? Surely if it was already default, they can't re default it?? Thank you for your help

Hi guys First post here, hope you can help?. I took out a secured loan with welcome in 2005 but went bankrupt in 2006. Have only had 6 monthly letters saying that we were in arrears until a month ago when we received a default notice giving us 2 weeks to pay arrears of £16000. Now like most people we do not have £16000 lying around in fact I have only 6 weeks ago got back into work after almost a year out and was on jury service when they sent the letter so didnt really have time to do anything about it. Now we have received a letter from Incasso debt collectors demanding we pay £33476 which apparently is the overdue amount not a redemption figure!! Have not been able to find any paperwork after all this time of inactivity but I do know that the original loan was around the £20000 mark. Now being desperate at the time(I had just had a potential joint buisness venture come crashing down at the last minute and tried to borrow enough to do it on my own having just quit my job in preparation to start the buisness, but ultimately lost out on that to) they were bending all sorts of rules like overstating my wages without even asking, saying that we didnt earn enough to get a loan then upping the loan required and I dont remember sending any wageslips either!! Could anyone give me any advice on what we should do now?? Could really do with some. Thanks in advance

Hello, Barclays closed my wife's account and would not give any information at all after a lot of phone calls they forwarded me to their fraud team who said they will check this and call us back. Few days later we got a letter saying as per advised previously on the phone Barclays have retained their decision to keep this account closed. However we never received any calls at all. I then called back and the same happened where they kept on telling us they are not obliged to give us any information. I said to them why is my wife's account handled by fraud department and if you have accused her of fraud she has the right to know. They said they cannot help us. since then my wife applied for another bank account with a different bank and her credit check failed assuming Barclays have put a CIFAS marker or something else against my wife's name. Please advise what is the best way forward to have this looked into further ?

Hi Peeps Slowly making my way through Payplan DMP..aiming to obliterate them all at last. Lloyds Current Account O/D £900.00dr sorry been paying them £1 month recently payplan. 10 year old debt - fallen of CRF. obviously being fleeced as debt not really gone down. What letter do I send to Akinika ? unsure of this one as current account. Thanks Peeps

Hi In 2007 I separated from my husband due to domestic violence issue, child was 20 months old. I was working but just surviving (Finance Officer in the Local Council) * I informed the Bank (our mortgage was with Barclays); Requested to change the mortgage temporally to "Interest only" * The other party refused to agree to the change; The Bank suggested I start making transfers from Reserve account facility that we had, in order to avoid arrears * The other party put a "freeze" on the account to stop me from using it; Bank could not proceed as they had to have both parties' agreement (joint mortgage account) * Bank offered to me to pay as much as I can, and suggested the equivalent of the "interest only" amounts would be sufficient to show a good will *A few months later Mortgage accounts were transferred to Woolwich and somewhere in the process, somehow the "freeze" was "lifted" or something, but my ex-husband managed to transfer the fund of the Reserve account to his personal account - £24,410! * As soon as I realised it, I filed a complaint with the Bank, and requested an urgent investigation. Weeks of phone calls and visits to the local branch followed. 4 months later I received a letter, Barclays admitting their fault and confirming that the other party is solely liable for the debt (the withdrawn amount). * I have on numerous occasions asked how they are chasing him up, is any investigation being conducted - never got a reply due to the Data Protection bla-bla. * In 2014, being better off financially, I approached the Bank to discuss Re-Mortgage options, as I still am paying the Interest only amount. Mortgaged period finishes in 2023. I "have no options and until the Reserve account is repaid, I will be unable to do Re-Mortgage" - was Barclay's reply. Debt currently is £41k+, including the interest on the withdrawn amount. * Every now and then I still receive payment demand letters, solicitors' letter and others. I have to call and explain the case for a 100th+ time! I am up to a point to take the Bank to Court, as I do not see any other way out of the situation. There is no need to say how much stress it causes to me, and the adverse financial affect... Does anyone know what legislation I should use to start on? Can I still quote BCOBS? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Thanks for replies in advance.

Hi How do I get rid of a closed account on my credit account which was a default from 2012? Thanks in advance.

Hi, I opened a credit card account with vanquis in September 2005 and stopped paying them around early 2008 as they were hammering me with charges and i'd pay them what they asked for and the next month there'd be another charge. Obviously they must have defaulted the account and sold it on to lowell. I've only recently been checking my credit file and noticed that the default date for the account is september 2013. The cynic In me feels that lowell.s may have done a bit of sleight of hand with the default date as I doubt vanquis would have waited over 5 years to put the account in default. I no longer have the account details for this, so is there a way I can Sar them without the account number and will this reveal the correct default date or would I need to request that seperately?

The title sums it up in a nutshell. I pay monthly by standing order and have done so since moving into this house a year ago. I have received, over the last few months, two text messages and two letters asserting that my account is in arrears and that if I don't respond I will become liable for the whole years bill etc etc. My account is not in arrears. I have bank statements which show the sums being transferred to the council in question every month. I have emailed the head of revenue and benefits to tell him to check whatever error is causing this on his system and to point out how unacceptable it is to send people threatening letters in error. I attached copies of my bank statement showing the payments by way of proof. I can well imagine there are some people who would be intimidated or caused undue stress by the type of things they've sent. I copied in my councillor, who acknowledged the message. No response yet from the recipient. Today I have received a court summons for 23rd of May on account of my non-payment. Obviously I am not overly concerned, as I know I have paid and can prove I have paid. What I would like to know is how best to act now? I have let the councillor know what has happened and sought further advice from him . I am not against attending the court date if there is anything to be gained by that for me. The outcome I am seeking is an acknowledgment of the errors on the part of the council and a stop being put to the harassment via text message and letter which has now been going on for some months. Does anyone have some advice for how best to proceed?

Hi, I have accumulated some relatively large charges from HSBC Business over the last few years, mainly for unauthorised overdrafts. Is it possible to have any of these refunded? I am in quite a bit of financial difficulty at the minute. I dont have any lending on this business account. I would also like to keep the account open, so dont want to do anything to harm that if possible. Thanks for reading! Jamie

I have a bit of an awkward situation that I can't see anywhere else. I had amassed some debt and in November 2015. I contacted a debt charity at 4am by email and they locked into action immediately and helped me. By 14 December 2015 an IVA had been agreed between the financial company and creditors and now paying that without having missed any payments. However, in the November, whilst my IVA was being set up, I was advised to move my bank account from Santander as they would likely lock my account upon receiving this email IVA request notice. I moved my account in November 2015 to First Direct. The account they provided me with was a Credit Account with a £500 overdraft and I applied online with no prompt to read any T&C's that I can remember and no paperwork received with the exception of my bank card and it's pin. In the first couple of months I had planned with my financial advisor handling my IVA what debts to include. To help reduce the IVA amount, I used most of the £500 overdraft on the First Direct account to clear one of the debts and then I would work the overdraft down over time. Out of the blue, and with therefore no notice, I received a letter from First Direct in March 2016 stating that they would close my account because I was in an IVA and this breached their current account rules and that they would close it in May 2016, giving me 2 months notice. I rang First Direct immediately upon receiving the letter and was essentially told to pay back the overdraft before the account closed and that was my only choice. In May 2016 I rang First Direct again and explained I was still in IVA as they know so couldn't pay off my overdraft in one go like that and had planned to work it down over time that had now been taken away from me at their choice. I was told that they would send me a form once my account closes to complete to set up a repayment plan that would be affordable to me and take into consideration my IVA. This is where my problems began to escalate. I never received any form from First Direct. I emailed them to ask for it in June and July 2016. received responses stating they couldn't discuss my account unless I rung them, which I was suspicious about as surely they must contact on the method I request? I managed to go out of my way and visit a HSBC some miles away and ring them. They agreed to send me the form that they hadn't sent previously. I then waited some weeks and received no form again. Instead, some weeks later I received a letter with a debt collection agency header on it asking for £512 that I now owed. I replied by email, copying in First Direct, explaining that I was still awaiting the repayment form and then never received a response from First Direct nor the Debt Collection Agency. Some weeks later I again got a letter from the Debt Collection Agency, again replied by email copying in First Direct and attaching my previous email and again never got a reply. A couple of months later I then received a letter with a different Debt Collection Agency header. Again I replied with the same email, attaching previous emails and copying in First Direct, and again I received no reply from anyone. I then sent an email to First Direct a few times over the next few months asking for the form and kept getting the same response as before, that they cannot discuss my account. In mid April 2018 I received a letter from Cabot Financial asking for repayment of the £512 for the HSBC debt and that they had bought the debt in August 2017 but weirdly apologised for taking until now to write to me about it?! A day later I received a letter with HSBC header dated BEFORE the Cabot letter chasing repayment for £512 debt. a couple of days later I received another letter dated AFTER the Cabot letter from HSBC saying they had now sold the debt to Cabot and to now deal with Cabot on it. This all seemed very odd to receive these 3 letter within a few days, seemingly contradicting each other and confusing, one claiming Cabot had purchased the debt in August 2017 and one with HSBC dated before the Cabot letter asking me to repay them (and not Cabot). I have replied by email to Cabot and asked for no email or telephone contact and no visits to my home and that I would only correspond in writing and that I would write to them in time on this. I'm now in a position where I am looking for above on what to next. Any help would be much appreciated!

Good morning HOPE THIS IS THE CORRECT FORUM, i have an issue and need some advice hopefully there some bank account/visa debit card experts here? On friday 13th i went as usual to buy my weekly bus ticket on the First Bus M-tickets app ( i have never had this problem before) but when i clicked checkout i selected my card and instantly the screen came back with "transaction declined", i thought this is strange because i had the money in account ready. I left it half an hour confused to try again but before i did i went to check my banking app to check my balance and low and behold the £20 for the bus ticket had been deducted form my balance. I went to check if my bus ticket had turned up in the app but it hadnt and the history said "transaction declined". I phoned the bus company and was told they have no record of receiving my money and refused to issue my ticket on the grounds it says on their screens "transaction declined" Ok sorry for that i just wanted to make the story clear for guidance. I have checked today (still no bus ticket or money back in my account). I am worried my money has disappeared into thin air, i have debt management plans to pay and i am on benefits so £20 going "missing" is quite a big deal at the moment.... What do i do will the money be returned to me? Is their financial laws that state money must be returned in ??days. Thank you i hope someone can advise this has really stressed me out

I have an ancient Myjar default from 2012 from when they tried to pursue £1055 against £50 borrowed. It went through a few DCAs who sent standard threat letters which were easily seen off with section 77 requests but no court action was ever taken, and it should have gone SB in March. I was looking forward to it being gone from my file on today's Noddle update, however instead I've found that 1 week before the default reached 6 years, it was suddenly marked 'satisfied' and it now appears as a satisfied closed account rather than having dropped off my file altogether, where presumably it will sit until 2024. Obviously it's new status is far less damaging than the active default, but not as good as it having disappeared and when I'm so close to having a clean sheet on my credit file I don't want this thing hanging around on it in any form. How can they mark it as satisfied when it has never been acknowledged?

Hi everyone. Need some a little bit of help. Got a letter from westcot, saying my account with them had been fully paid, and was now closed. And to stop making more payments to them. Also it said the balance was: minus £303. Phoned them up as I thought there was more to pay on this, and the lovely lady, after putting me on hold for a while, explained that the originator of the debt had informed them it had been paid, then retract that message later. She would contact them, to get an explanation. But there was still £1400 owing. Where does this leave me? I have a letter saying the debt is cleared. Can they comeback and say "oops, mistake, keep paying" or is the letter legally enforceable? In the eyes of the law, is the debt now clear? Thanks doomsponge

Hi, I am looking for some advice regarding a debt account from lowell which they have just closed (due to my health taking a turn for the worse) they obtained a CCJ against me on this account about a year ago. i am paying this off at £1 per month, the CCJ has been active since jan 2017. They have only just closed the account down due to me submitting doctors letters etc to backup my health issues. do i contact Lowell? i am a bit reluctant to after what i have heard about them. do i stop paying it? do i need to wait a bit longer for account to get processed? can i apply for the CCJ to be removed or at least have its status changed. i just feel if i do nothing then nothing will happen. Thanks for any help i receive.